Pittsburgh Pirates 2014 Draft Preview: College Hitters

The college baseball season starts this upcoming weekend for many teams and the Pittsburgh Pirates are in a strange position this draft. They aren’t picking near the middle or top like usual, they don’t have a selection until 25th overall. Last year and most years, we are able to focus in on a small group of players and get a general idea of who they might pick. This season, we will have a large group of players to cover, from guys who might fall back in the pack to ones that burst upon the scene out of nowhere to guys who were in this range all season.

We are splitting the preview into four parts, college hitters and pitchers and prep hitters and pitchers. This is just an idea of what the Pirates could get in this range based on early season rankings and extremely early mock drafts. For the college hitters, the are some interesting corner infielders that should pique the interest of Pirates fans, who see a deep class of outfielders and catchers already in the system, but not many options at either corner infield spot. The Pirates will likely take the best player available so all positions will be covered throughout the year.

You could almost eliminate any chance of the Pirates getting Trea Turner, a shortstop from North Carolina State and a former Pirates draft pick(20th round, 2011). Most rankings have him going top five due to his overall package, which includes strong on base skills and speed from a premium position.

After Turner, you get into a couple options that seem like long-shots for now. Michael Conforto is a left-handed hitter outfielder from Oregon State. He has good size, hits for power and takes his share of walks and hit-by-pitches. Baseball America has him as the second best college hitter and seventh best college player overall.

Derek Fisher, an outfielder from Virginia, will also likely go before the Pirates pick. He’s a lefty hitter outfielder with good size and some power. He is limited defensively, though the bat should play well in the majors.

Then we have Brad Zimmer from San Francisco. In one early mock draft, he went 22nd overall, so some people see him in the Pirates range, though Baseball America has him higher and others had him much lower. The Pirates likely saw a lot of Zimmer, who played alongside Justin Maffei, a 2013 draft pick of the Pirates. Zimmer hit .320, showed some power and ran well for a big man, stealing 19 bases. He is 6’5″, 205 pounds, so there could be more power potential there.

Kyle Schwarber from Indiana is one that fans might want to watch. He is mentioned numerous times in the Pirates range. Schwarber catches now and plays some first base, but most think that his future will be at first base. He has a big bat from the left side, offering both power and high average potential.

Going with more corner infielders with late first round potential, you have four West Coast players, two from the same team. Matt Chapman and J.D. Davis from Cal State Fullerton, Alex Blandino from Stanford and Taylor Sparks from UC Irvine. Chapman and Davis both play third base, but Chapman is the starter with defensive upside at the position, while Davis also sees time on the mound and at first base. Both players have excellent raw power and Chapman takes his share of walks.

Blandino is a solid all-around player that can play multiple positions, but might not hit enough to be able to stick at third base in the pros. He could be a future second baseman with a good glove and solid bat. He didn’t put up a strong average in 2013 and had the lowest OBP of any Stanford regular, but he hit for some power and didn’t strike out much.

Sparks can play first base and third base. He had a rough Freshman year, hitting just .202 with a high strikeout rate. He still strikes out more than you want and he drew just six walks all seasons, so there are questions about his plate patience and contact. The good news is that he batted .360 in 2013 and hit ten homers. He has good size (6’4″, 215) and if he continues to improve at the plate, he will be an interesting option at the end of the first round

The top rated shortstop not named Trea Turner, is Joey Pankake from South Carolina. Not everyone is convinced he can remain at shortstop. He has a good arm, makes strong contact and showed some power last year. According to Kiley McDaniel, he was raw at the plate, but quickly developed into a polished hitter. There is a split among scouts in his potential, as some see him as a third baseman due to his strong arm, which knocks him down as far as the boost a strong shortstop would get in the draft

Finally, the Pirates are loaded with catchers in the low minors, but Max Pentecost from Kennesaw State has been mentioned multiple times in their range. He was called by Baseball America “A gifted hitter with athleticism behind the plate”. His power numbers look low with 14 doubles and three homers in 212 at-bats, but he was the team leader in each category. In 2013, Pentecost threw out 32% of would-be base stealers.

There will be more players added to this list as the season goes on and we get a sense of who is establishing themselves as a late first round option. For now, you have some names to key in on among college hitters. Tomorrow, we will cover the college pitchers that stand out.

I think we should focus on getting the best development staff available to work with the talent we have at catcher so that we become a “catcher factory”. We could trade the established ones at a premium to re-stock the farm system and keep the best value ones for ourselves.

John Dreker

The Pirates have Tom Prince at Bradenton this year and he works with catchers during Spring. They also have Milver Reyes, who will coach the GCL team this year. He caught ten seasons in the Pirates system. During Spring Training, Manny Sanguillen is one of the instructors, so the young catchers get to pick the brain of a major league all-star

PghPinstripes

Is there any way to know how these guys compare to other catching coaches? Is there a “catching guru” out there that everybody acknowledges as “better than the rest”? I am not knocking the guys we have. I am just excited about the talent we seem to have stockpiled and want us to have the best possible coaching to maximize it. Maybe we already do?

glassers

This is the kind of information I find interesting . It is always fun to look at possible draft choices that might fall into the Pirates range . It becomes more and more important to make decent picks as our position numbers fall due to winning .

John Dreker

It’s good to get a general idea of what they will have available, but we won’t get a real sense of who they could pick until the other teams start making their picks and you get in the 20th pick range. What you hope for, is a talented class, so someone of value drops to them. I just finished up the college pitchers article for tomorrow and I really like some of the names that are being mentioned in the 20-30 range. That says a lot about the depth of this class.

Last year we mentioned Reese McGuire and Austin Meadows numerous times throughout the year. This season, I might not mention the Pirates draft pick until the last week of May if it’s someone that gets a late push. Basically, there will be less focus on certain individuals and more on groups of players to get the feel of the talent they could get.

http://atung.net/ Steve Zielinski

This is the draft when Joe DelliCarri and his crew must show their mettle by finding quality players working with lower-in-the-round draft slots. Success can be achieved, but achieving it also requires a bit of luck too.

leadoff

If there is power available in this draft I would like to see the Pirates draft some. Alvarez in all probability will be gone in 2 years leaving them with a big hole in the system, there are plenty of prep pitchers that they can get in the later rounds that would fit their draft profiles.

John was born in Kearny, NJ, hometown of the 2B for the Pirates 1909 World Championship team, Dots Miller. In fact they have some of the same relatives in common, so it was only natural for him to become a lifelong Pirates fan. Before joining Pirates Prospects in July 2010, John had written numerous articles on the history of baseball while also releasing his own book and co-authoring another on the history of the game. He writes a weekly article on Pirates history for the site, has already interviewed many of the current minor leaguers with many more on the way and follows the foreign minor league teams very closely for the site. John also provides in person game reports of the West Virginia Power and Altoona Curve.